LGD.cn claim a spot in LAN Finals

 

 

With iG and Orange.NeoEs having already claimed their slots for the LAN Finals, LGD.cn.cn and Zenith were battling out for 1 of the 2 remaining slots to the main event, with the winner of the matchup automatically securing their shot at the $64,000 prize pool.

 

Game 1

 

Both teams started out with unusual laning combinations as Zenith deployed Batrider, Undying and Rubick in the trilane on top versus the defensive trilane of LGD.cn with Queen of Pain, Leshrac and Shadow Demon. Meanwhile, Sylar on his signature Lone Druid was doing an amazing job in the middle lane, leading in terms of both farm and experience versus YamateH’s Puck.

 

The game did not see much action until the 7 minute mark when an initiation on Batrider and Rubick followed by perfect Sonic Wave from Queen of Pain massacred the whole trilane of Zenith as ddc managed to pick up a triple kill for himself.

 

With a 12-minute Armlett of Mordiggian completed on the Spirit Bear and the help from Leshac, LGD.cn.cn easily took down the top tier 1 tower. They immediately attempted a smoke gank on Puck in the middle lane but was unfortunately, spotted by Undying.

 

Capitalizing on the strength of their 5-hero squad, LGD.cn rotated to the bottom lane and took down both the tier-1 and tier-2 towers without any struggle.

 

Around the 16 minute mark, Zenith decided to make their move by smoking up for a flank attack on LGD.cn's mid tier-1 tower. A huge teamfight ensued near the Roshan pit where Shadow Demon got instantly locked down by the Flaming Lasso and went down in matter of seconds, followed by Yao’s Clockwerk. Rubick managed to steal the Sonic Wave from Queen of Pain and returned the fatal favour to ddc, claiming a 3-for-nil trade for Zenith. Being low on life, Zenith decided to retreat and LGD.cn quickly took the chance to secure the Aegis of Immortal on Lone Druid.

 

Zenith tried to fight their way back into the game with a push on the top tier-1 tower but a 5-hero defense by LGD.cn saw the Radiant’s effort going up in smoke as Rubick got targeted by Clockwerk, forcing the rest of Zenith to fall back.

 

Another big teamfight took place near the Dire’s mid tier-1 tower which saw YamateH putting on a show as he managed to catch 4 enemies in the Dream Coil. LGD.cn started to look vulnerable as they lost another major teamfight with Zenith taking no casualties.

 

An overextension by LGD.cn took its toll as Shadow Demon fell to Gyrocopter and the Aegis of Immortal could not save Lone Druid either with Rubick was the sole casualty for Zenith.

 

The next 5 minutes saw the game totally slipping away from LGD.cn as they lost 2 big team-fights in a row to great teamwork coupled with the huge AoE combination from Zenith.

 

 

By the 36 minute mark, Gyrocopter completed his Daedalus, Black King Bar and Butterfly and picked up the Aegis of Immortal as well for himself.

Realising that they were simply too far behind, LGD.cn called ‘GG’ after losing another teamfight near the bottom tier-2 tower, leaving Zenith with a one game advantage.

 

Game 2

 

With 1 game advantage, Zenith decided to take a risk with an experimental jungling, support Juggernaut by xFreedom. The action kicked off very early as an engagement broke out in the Radiant’s jungle even before the creeps spawned which saw LGD.cn claim first blood on Nyx Assassin with Brewmaster claiming the kill.

 

Afterward, the game fell into quite a passive state as LGD.cn was looking to ensure a good start for their main carry Phantom Lancer while the early roaming power of Zenith’s line up was weak.

 

Right after reaching level 6, ddc managed to killed off Storm Spirit in the middle lane with Primal Split. Having gotten off to a good start, Brewmaster picked up his Blink Dagger after only 8 minutes.

 

A smoke gank by Nyx Assassin and Juggernaut bore good fruit as they managed to catch Shadow Shaman in the jungle. However, a quick snipe on a low-health Lone Druid saw LGD.cn turning the situation into a 1-for-1 trade. Barely getting anything out of the offlane, iceiceice decided to stay in the jungle with his Lone Druid.

 

As soon as Shadown Shaman reached level 6, 4 LGD.cn heroes rallied to push the middle lane and easily took down the tower thanks to the Mass Serpent Wards. Meanwhile, Phantom Lancer was still free farming and completed his Power Treads and Radiance, 17 minutes into the game.

 

Riding their momentum, LGD.cn executed a 5-hero push on the bottom tier-2 tower where they managed to catch Lone Druid off-guard as he was teleporting in. Both the top tier-1 and tier-2 towers suffered the same fate shortly after as Zenith was powerless to stop LGD.cn’s charge.

 

 

Zenith tried to put up a final defense on the top tier-3 tower but LGD.cn, with their overwhelming advantage, broke through easily as they almost scored a team-wipe over Zenith. ‘GG’ was called after 21 minutes and the series went into the tiebreaker game.

 

Game 3

 

Game 3 started off in a stalemate as either team was looking to create any action, given the importance of this deciding game. With strong trilane combinations being picked by both teams, Dark Seer and Beastmaster were forced to farm up in the Dire’s and Radiant’s jungles, respectively.

 

Jakiro picked up first blood following an overextension by Dark Seer as he wandered too far out in the bottom lane. Zenith immediately answered by taking down the top tier-1 tower at the 6 minute mark.

 

As soon as Beastmaster reached level 6, 4 LGD.cn heroes decided to smoke up for a backstab on Dragon Knight and managed to bring him down, taking the kill score to 3-0 in favour of LGD.cn. A few minutes later, LGD.cn got another kill on Dragon Knight as he was caught by the Blink Dagger and Skewer combo of Magnus. At the same time, Dark Seer gave up his life a 3rd time, this time at the hands of Anti-mage. Sylar also managed to complete his Power Treads and Battlefury 15 minutes into the game.

 

Later, Zenith grouped up for a push on the top tier-1 tower and easily took it down; while LGD.cn was putting a lot of pressure on both the middle and bottom tier-1 towers. A stalemate ensued around the middle tier-1 tower until LGD.cn managed to find an opening, catching both Nyx Assassin and Dark Seer off-guard and taking down the tier-1 tower a few seconds later.

 

At the 21 minute mark, with Zenith determined to make something happen, they decided to smoke up and looked for a backstab on LGD.cn’s formation. A teamfight burst out in the bottom lane which saw Zenith coming out on top with a 4-for-1 trade, even though ddc managed to catch 3 enemies in his Reverse Polarity. Zenith quickly took the chance to secure the kill on Roshan, getting the Aegis of Immortal for Luna.

 

Another push on the mid tier-1 tower by Zenith saw them walk away with murder as Nyx Assassin netted a double kill off Shadow Demon and Jakiro. However, Sylar’s Anti-Mage was slowly crushing the top tier-2 tower, bringing it down to a quarter of its hit points, forcing a retreat from Zenith.

 

Feeling confident, Zenith called for another push on the top lane, taking down the tier-2 tower quickly; however, Sylar immediately returned the favour by taking down the middle tier-2 tower. Smart play from Zenith, as they faked a retreat and then smoked up and charged back to the top tier-2 tower to pick off Jakiro.

 

Later, a big team fight initiated by Dragon Knight on Magnus using his Shadow Blade saw Zenith managing to kill ddc before he could use Reverse Polarity. Beastmaster also lost his life which then saw Zenith taking down the bottom tier-2 tower.

 

As soon as Magnus respawned, LGD.cn rallied with a smoke gank on Dragon Knight and successfully killed him despite a major counter-initiation effort by Zenith to turn the fight around. Sylar grabbed himself an Ultra Kill, making it a 4-for-1 trade in favour of LGD.cn.

 

A few minutes later, LGD.cn came out on top in another teamfight in the bottom lane as a 2-man Reverse Polarity by Magnus suddenly turned the tide for LGD.cn as they brought down both Dragon Knight and Luna.

 

A quick Roshan kill by LGD.cn followed and the Aegis of the Immortal was given to Anti-mage, who was already equipped with Battlefury, Manta Style and Butterfly. Wasting no time at all, LGD.cn grouped up and took down the top tier-2 tower uncontested and proceeded onto the tier-3 tower. A huge teamfight took place with Anti-Mage bagging a triple kill, with the use of the Aegis of Immortal, along with a full set of barracks at the cost of Beastmaster as well as their own bottom barracks. LGD.cn immediately rotated to the middle lane and cleared out both the tier-3 tower and barracks in a matter of seconds.

 

Deciding that it was time to put the last nail in Zenith’s coffin, LGD.cn rotated to the bottom lane, quickly cleared out the tier-2 tower annd put a lot of pressure on Zenith’s last remaining barracks. However, Zenith did not let this one go easily as they put up a strong fight, killing off 4 LGD.cn heroes with Anti-mage the only survivor.

 

One last attempt from Zenith to turn the game around as they smoked up near the Roshan pit and sneaked their way into LGD.cn’s base via the bottom lane. Nyx Assassin initiated on Anti-Mage but LGD.cn’s back-up was quick to arrive as they managed to suppress Zenith’s team-fight power, taking out Dark Seer and Luna very quickly.

 

 

Feeling confident, LGD.cn went for a final push via the bottom lane and was successful in forcing out the ‘GG’ call from Zenith 45 minutes into the game and thus claiming the overall series 2-1.